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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433825">Found Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/legolasoftherings/pseuds/legolasoftherings'>legolasoftherings</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hobbit - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Found Family, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:31:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,789</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/legolasoftherings/pseuds/legolasoftherings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This was inspired by a request from @kumqu4t on Tumblr, and I hope you like it!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Found Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had all started with a metal bead. You had stumbled upon it, lying unassumingly on the floor in a corner of your attic, and placed it in your pocket. Thinking nothing of it, you utterly forgot about the small trinket.<br/>
That night, you pulled it out of your pocket and admired the strange carvings upon it. It seemed to grow warm in your hand, but you ignored the feeling, thinking your mind was playing tricks on you. Turning off the light next to your bed, you covered your face with the sheets and went to sleep. You didn’t see the moon shine through the window, causing the bead to glow bright blue.<br/>
The next morning, you woke up to strange voices, and realized that your surroundings had changed. You found yourself on a forest floor in an unknown land, surrounded by short, bearded men, which, as you found out, were dwarves.<br/>
You were terrified at first, but the loving nature of (most) of the dwarves put you at ease. They taught you how to fight, hunt, and speak scraps of their language, and in return, you told stories of the modern world and introduced them to the concept of movies and music. Their favorite thing to hear was a dramatic retelling of Titanic, which you loved to tell.<br/>
You had been traveling with Thorin’s Company for a few months, and in that time, your hair had grown a significant amount. By now, it was down to your waist, and each day it became harder and harder to keep it in check.<br/>
The dwarves, to their credit, tried to help you braid it back, but each time you took them out, the amount of knots increased exponentially. Your last hair tie had snapped almost two weeks ago, along with any hope of ever controlling your hair.<br/>
Gandalf had left your company, and according to Thorin, left the rest of you defenseless. You hoped that was not the case<br/>
“Fili, can I borrow a knife?” you asked, running your fingers through the tangled mass in an effort to tame it.<br/>
“Which one?” he replied with a quizzical look on his face.<br/>
“The sharpest, if you please.”<br/>
“Y/N, is there something you need to tell me?”<br/>
“Nope!” you answered, perhaps a little too quickly.<br/>
“If you say so…” he said, pulling out a long, glistening blade from his coat, “Take care of her, okay? She likes to be handled carefully.”<br/>
“Fili, did you just give your knife a personality?”<br/>
“Don’t worry about it.”<br/>
You grinned and turned to a chuckling Bofur, who was turning numerous rabbits over the fire. Inhaling deeply, you commented, “Smells incredible.”<br/>
Bofur nodded at Bombur, replying, “He did all the work, lass.”<br/>
“Thank you, Bombur!” you called, earning you an appreciative nod and smile. Your bubbly mood was masking your nerves, because in all honesty, you had no idea how you were going to pull it off.<br/>
Later, as you were eating, the dwarves entertained you with dwarven legends and stories of their heritage. They told of Durin the Deathless, and the looks on their faces were noble and proud. After a little while, the conversation hushed, and some dwarves fell asleep, snoring loudly. Eventually, you, Bilbo, and Thorin were the only ones awake. Thorin pointed at you and mouthed ‘you’re on watch,’ and you nodded. Moving to the outside of the camp, you sat down and prepared yourself.<br/>
Conveniently, you had watch duty for the next few hours, allowing you some privacy. There was a brook not far from camp, so you decided to use it as a mirror. As the loudly snoring dwarves slept nearby, you pulled out the long knife that gleamed in the faint moonlight and weighed it in your hand.<br/>
“How did Mulan do this?” you whispered to yourself, chuckling softly. Adjusting your grip on the knife, you took a deep breath to mentally prepare. As you lifted the knife, you heard a distant cry, making you jump. <em>Must be a wolf, </em>you thought, <em>at least I have a knife on hand.</em> Apprehensively, you returned your concentration to your hair and ran your hands through it one final time to say a last goodbye of sorts.<br/>
You gripped the knife and in one swift motion, you pulled the knife through a small section of your hair, cutting off a good six inches. Holding the lock of hair, you stared at it for a few seconds in disbelief. <em>I can’t believe I’m doing this. </em><br/>
Continuing to cut off pieces of your hair, you found your rhythm and hacked off the rest. In a brief moment of inspiration, you cut bangs to cover your forehead to add a little style. As you examined your reflection in the water, a tear threatened to slip from your eye, but you quickly wiped it away. <em>There’s no use crying now,</em> you thought, <em>it’s already gone. </em>The haircut you gave yourself was rough and choppy, and just slightly brushed your shoulders. <em>I’ll get one of the dwarves to help me clean it up.</em> You shook your head with a smile, enjoying the feeling of the lightness swishing around your face.<br/>
Gathering up the hair you cut off, you placed it in a small pouch, in order not to leave any kind of trail behind. You decided to stay by the brook for a little while; the peace it gave you felt heavenly, and you rarely had a moment without the presence of at least three other individuals.<br/>
It was Bilbo’s turn to take watch, so he snuck around the snoring dwarves to find you. He saw a figure in the moonlight that resembled you, but there was something not quite right. Drawing his sword, he glanced down at it, making sure it wasn’t glowing blue, and to his relief, it was not.<br/>
“Y/N?” he whisper-yelled, making you jump.<br/>
You could tell that he was a little surprised, but his shock gave way to a smile.<br/>
“New look?”<br/>
“Yep! I was tired of the extra weight.”<br/>
“It looks wonderful on you.”<br/>
You smiled at the hobbit, “Thank you, Bilbo. You’re very sweet.”<br/>
He grinned back and pointed back to camp, saying, “There should be a place over there for you, as long as none of them rolled around.”<br/>
Nodding, you collected your things and snuck back to camp. All of the dwarves were dead asleep, but many of them were armed, even in dormancy. A branch broke under your foot as you neared Kili, and his eyes shot open.<br/>
He gasped and whipped out a knife, but breathed a sigh of relief. The sigh of relief turned to confusion, and he asked, “Y/N! What happened?!”<br/>
His cry woke up the rest of the dwarves, who quickly sat up and ran over to you. Shock gave way to dropped faces and whispers.<br/>
Balin was the first to speak, “I am deeply sorry for your loss.”<br/>
“What?”<br/>
“You are in mourning, are you not?”<br/>
Looking down at your clothes, you realized that you were wearing all black. <em>That must be it,</em> you thought, <em>what else?</em><br/>
Before you could get a word in edgewise, Ori sniffled as a tear rolled down his cheek. Balin placed his hand on the younger dwarf’s shoulder comfortingly, and Gloin did the same. Fili and Kili each wrapped an arm around you in the most comforting manner they could, furthering your confusion. Even Thorin briefly showed a little bit of emotion, but he covered his mouth with his hand to hide it.<br/>
“Guys, what’s going on?” you asked warily as the rest of the Company gathered close around you.<br/>
“Y/N, you’re mourning. The least we could do is be here for you,” Nori said, producing a small flower out of his pack and handing it to you.<br/>
“I’m not sure I understand-”<br/>
“Your hair is gone!” Dwalin butted in.<br/>
“Yes, I see that, thank you.”<br/>
You glanced at Bilbo, who looked equally as confused and simply shrugged as you lifted a brow.<br/>
“Who was it?” Dori asked, “Who are you mourning?”<br/>
“I’m not mourning anyone,” you answered, “Why would you ask such a question?”<br/>
The facial expressions of the dwarves varied from upset to confused to shocked, and you sighed.<br/>
“Why are you all so upset?” you asked, looking from face to face for an answer.<br/>
After a tense few moments, Thorin spoke, “When dwarves cut their hair, it is a sign of mourning, and is a point of utmost shame for many.”<br/>
You nodded, realizing what had them so upset, “In my world, people cut their hair all the time, just for fun. It’s a form of self-expression, nothing more. I do appreciate your help trying to manage it, but it was just too much. I’m so sorry to upset you all.”<br/>
“Well, I think you look beautiful, Y/N,” Ori said, and the younger dwarves nodded. You flushed, flattered by the sweet compliment.<br/>
All of a sudden, Oin rushed forward and wrapped his arms around you, and the rest did the same, resulting in a huge dwarf group-hug<br/>
“I didn’t realize you guys cared for me that much,” you commented, patting Oin’s shoulder awkwardly.<br/>
“What? Of course we care for you!” Bofur stated as Bifur signed his agreement.<br/>
“You’re one of us now, lass, whether you like it or not,” Dwalin said, ruffling up your newly cropped hair.<br/>
“Really?”<br/>
Thorin smiled, and answered, “Y/N, we wouldn’t leave you now.”<br/>
You grinned back and blew on your bangs, noting, “I kind of look like Kili now, don’t I?”<br/>
“Hey!” Kili exclaimed, softly punching your shoulder.<br/>
“That’s not exactly a bad thing, Ki. Don’t worry,” you answered, winking at the dwarf.<br/>
“Y/N, you probably should get some sleep,” Balin said in a grandfatherly manner.<br/>
Bilbo nodded, saying, “I should be on watch anyway. Goodnight, all of you.”<br/>
The rest of them murmured “Goodnight” back and shuffled off to their beds.<br/>
“Wait, Fili!” you whisper-yelled, pulling the knife from your pocket, “Thank you for letting me use her.”<br/>
“Anytime,” the blond dwarf replied with a smile, accepting the blade. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders as best he could, led you back to where him and Kili had their bedrolls, and pointed out a place the perfect size for you.<br/>
You thanked him and spread out your own bedroll with a tiny whisper of, “Goodnight,” to the younger dwarves next to you. As you drifted off to sleep, you smiled. Even though you were in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by danger, you had stumbled into forever friends. Somehow, you knew that they would be by your side to the end, and that thought comforted your heart. You had found a family.</p>
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